01 / The Bar
Cask ale, kept properly.
Twelve handpulls, refilled every Tuesday and Friday. Cellar kept at 11°C, lines pulled through three times a day
Free House · Established 1154 · Bishop's Waltham
Where Bishop's Waltham
Where Bishop's Waltham
comes to drink, eat,
and stay a while.
Nine centuries of hostelry on the High Street. Twelve casks on the stillage, a kitchen that cooks over British hardwood, and four open fires that have been doing the heavy lifting since the priory next door had monks in it.
871
Years of hostelry
On this site since 1154, when the Bishop's residence rose next door.
12
Casks on the stillage
A revolving hand-picked selection from Hampshire and the southern counties.
4
Working open fires
One in the snug, one in the bar, two in the dining room. Lit from October.
The House
A pub with the priory still in its bones.
Built in 1154 as lodging for the Bishop of Winchester's masons, The Priory Inn has served as a public house continuously since the dissolution. The knapped flint walls, the oak beams in the snug, the priest's hole behind the back bar — all original, all still in daily use.
We are a true free house: independent of any brewery, answerable only to our regulars. Twelve handpulls sit on the stillage, refilled twice a week from a shortlist of breweries within fifty miles. We don't do gastropub theatre. We do pints pulled properly, conversation at the right volume, and food cooked over fire in a kitchen you can see into.
Walked in for one, left at last orders, came back the next day for lunch. There is nowhere else in Hampshire that does what the Priory does, in the way the Priory does it. — Martyn, regular since 1998
Tom & Helen, your hosts since 2009
Four reasons to come in today.
Run by Tom & Helen, who pull pints at lunch and lock up at night. Everything below changes weekly — this is the shape of the place, not a fixed menu.